I restored an early 80s National Matsushita Electric (later known as Panasonic) 'Sport 10' for a mate a few months back, and fitted stem shifters as he was using it for commuting where he was used to an upright mtb, and well they were what I happened to have lying around.

He popped up a video today of his commute, and while the camera was pointed too low to capture any scenery, the gear changing made me laugh out loud, just flick flick flick! (and expert use of the stem mounted bell at 10:58 ). I'm just really getting a kick out of seeing someone enjoying a bike that I rescued from the tip .

And the bike- before

and after-

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments- Elizabeth West.

Rather than taking his primary braking hand off the bar to ring the bell, he could have a flexible mount bell (like the NC-17) mounted under the left brake hood. That way he could ring and brake at the same time while keeping his hands on the bars/hoods.

Rather than taking his primary braking hand off the bar to ring the bell, he could have a flexible mount bell (like the NC-17) mounted under the left brake hood. That way he could ring and brake at the same time while keeping his hands on the bars/hoods.

Does he ride in wet weather?

Somewhat rushed, but it came out ok, and I was happy to be able to save some of the original decals. Yep 7 speed, the shifters are off a Schwinn Prelude I bought new for $250 when I was getting back into road riding.

I hadn't ever seen a bell like that, that would definitely be a good option, i'll let him know.

And he has ridden through a couple of storms, but usually a fair weather rider. He's a competitive swimmer so you would think he'd be ok with getting wet .

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments- Elizabeth West.

In a manner of speaking, 7 speed indexed, those ones aren't particularly common but I know Cell had an entry level bike with them. They aren't a shade on brake/shift levers but certainly an improvement on traditional stem shifters.

Nobody, I think he may already have changed the pedals, (might even have SPDs now) the ones in the photo were just what I had lying around at the time so I could ride it up and down the road to make sure the shifting was set up properly. I've slipped off crummy pedals before, not a pleasant experience.

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments- Elizabeth West.